Belmont Playground

Belmont Playground

Belmont Playground is located on the southeast corner of Belmont
Avenue and E. 182nd Street in the Belmont neighborhood of the Bronx. The namesake
of the playground, avenue, and neighborhood was the estate of the Lorillard
family, who made their fortune in the tobacco business. In 1760 Pierre Lorillard
opened a snuff-grinding factory in a rented house on Chatham Street in lower
Manhattan. He was killed by British troops during the occupation of New York
in the late 1770s, and his two sons Peter and George took over the firm in 1792.

The brothers Lorillard maintained the administrative offices
in Manhattan but relocated the manufacturing operations north to a grist mill
on the Bronx River. By the end of the 18th century, their factory produced more
chewing tobacco, snuff, and cigars than any other facility in the country. In
1870 the old wooden mill was replaced with a stone factory building (known as
the Lorillard Snuff Mill), which presently serves as a restaurant in the nearby
New York Botanical Garden in Bronx Park. Peter Lorillard's grave in the cemetery
at St. Peter's Church, Westchester is also a landmark of sorts; his tombstone
is shaped like a snuffbox.

As the Lorillards' enterprise grew, so did their land holdings
in the Bronx. By the middle of the 19th century, the Belmont estate totaled
661 acres. Its centerpiece was the Lorillard mansion, which was built in the
1850s. After the Civil War, the Lorillards moved the business to New Jersey
and donated their mansion to the Hospital for Incurables (now St. Barnabas Hospital).
Within the next few decades, many of the old estates and farms in the area were
divided by new city streets and sold off by real estate developers; however,
not all of the land fell into private hands. In 1888-89 the City of New York
acquired land for Bronx Park. The former Lorillard mansion became part of the
New York Botanical Garden, and the elegant building served as a police station
and later an art and science museum until it burned down in the 1920s.

Parks acquired the land for Belmont Playground in three parcels,
the first in 1936. When the new facility opened the following year, it was furnished
with a variety of play equipment and featured a specially designated area for
the popular pastime of roller-skating. Two adjacent parcels were acquired by
the City of New York in 1941 for the site of the West Bronx Vocational High
School; however, the school was never built, and the Board of Education surrendered
the property in 1954. By improving and developing this land for recreational
use, Parks more than doubled the playground’s area. The expanded park contained
one jungle gym, one wading pool, two slides, eight seesaws, seventeen swings,
and forty-seven benches. There were also facilities for basketball, handball,
softball, shuffleboard, and boccie. The two parcels were officially assigned
to Parks in 1961.

In 1995 Council Member Jose Rivera secured appropriations for
the $1,381,000 capital reconstruction of the upper portion of Belmont Playground.
Construction took place in 1997-98. Improvements included the installation of
new steel play equipment, swings, safety surfacing, spray shower, benches, paving,
curbs, north arrow rosette, drinking fountain, and water and drainage systems.
A generous planting program helped to green the park with 33 Silver Linden and
Redspire Calery Pear trees, over 200 shrubs, 200 daffodils, and extensive groundcover.
Also, the handball courts and comfort station were renovated, and a yardarm
was affixed to the flagpole. The park's horse-inspired design took its cue from
another Belmont—the racetrack in Queens. Cast iron horse medallions were set
in the new steel fences; a weathervane shaped like a trotting horse was installed
atop the comfort station; and a new cast stone horse invites children to saddle
up and ride.